Nasiru Yusuf

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo said Nigeria has the highest prevalent rate of cancer cases in West Africa.

He said about 72,000 out of every 100,000 cancer patients die of the disease annually.

The vice president disclosed this on Monday when he laid the foundation stone of the Kano Cancer Centre at Muhammad Buhari specialist hospital, Giginyu, a replica of the World Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia.

“WHO reports that in 2018, 4% of death in Nigeria were caused by cancer. Over a hundred thousand cases of cancer that are reported, seventy-two thousand died annually of cancer. So Nigerian cancer cases are about 15% of cases in West Africa. In the whole of West Africa we take 15%. So there is major problem with cancer in Nigeria.

“This is why the federal government decided on the national cancer control plan, 2018-2022. Each state is meant to have its own facility and cancer control plan. And keyed into federal government plan. I must say that, we have a situation where Kano sate has made way being plugging into overall plan of the federal government. Which is the federal government cancer control plan,” the vice president revealed.

Mr Osinbajo commended governor Ganduje for his foresight in establishing cancer control facility in Kano.

“Kano state is leading the way in this direction. With the cutting-edge facilities as we have just heard from the governor and the experts managing the facility. Also as I laid the foundation, I was made to understand that Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is very serious about it.

“This Centre is not meant for Kano alone, but it is for the whole nation. We commend you the Governor for your foresighted-ness, dedication and patriotism. This is a great work you are doing. You are about to put in place the best Cancer Treatment Centre in the country,” he said.

In his remarks governor Abdullahi Ganduje recalled how he conceived the idea of establishing the centre, revealing that, “We studied that cancer is becoming prevalent, with prostate cancer affecting men and cervical and breast cancer disturbing women. So we decided to come up with a workable solution to it.”

“We visited Melbourne, Australia World Cancer Treatment Centre. What I saw there moved my administration to work towards making something identically similar to that in our dear state, Kano.

“So we invited experts on cancer from across the world. We deliberated upon finding effective way to put this facility you are laying its foundation Sir. We came to a conclusion that the type we are having today can take care of 90 percent Cancer problem of our people,” Mr Ganduje explained.

The governor also assured that, a concrete arrangement was made for sustaining the centre, emphasising that, “business will not be as usual. For us to keep sustainability in sight, we decided that Public Private Partnership would be used in managing the facility. It will be managed by global experts.”

During the visit, the Vice President visited Emir Muhammad Sanusi II and had an interactive session at Gidan Makama National Museum, adjacent to the Emir’s palace.

He had also commissioned the 2km Aminu Dantata flyover at Murtala Mohammed Way, Tijjani Hashim, underpass, Kofar Ruwa and laid a foundation stone for the construction of Karibullah Nasiru-Kabara flyover, Shahuci.